Making Contact

Series produced by Making Contact

Series image

An international radio program that links people, vital ideas, and important information

Making Contact is an award-winning, 29-minute weekly magazine/documentary-style public affairs program, heard on more than 190 radio stations in the USA, Canada and South Africa. Making Contact is committed to in-depth critical analysis that goes beyond the breaking news.

Showcasing voices and perspectives not often heard in mainstream media, Making Contact focuses on the human realities of politics and the connections between local and global events, emphasizing positive, creative and grassroots ways to solve problems.

Making Contact's first broadcast was in 1995.


666 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Tapped Out: Clean Water in Peril (1-hour version) with Newshole
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Piece image
From a grassroots toxic canal clean up to a long-standing watershed war, we’ll hear from U.S. water stewards across the country. They’re people wor...

Bought by WGBH Radio Boston and WRPI


  • Added: Oct 16, 2009
  • Length: 58:58
  • Purchases: 2
Does SSI Need a Revamp?
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Piece image
During the great depression, the federal government established a safety net of poverty programs. But some say, the government’s way of determining...

  • Added: Oct 15, 2009
  • Length: 05:34
La Tanda -- A Grassroots Savings Scheme
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Piece image
A newshole ready first-person piece about "La Tanda", a tradition of many immigrant communities of pooling their money, and sharing the benefits.

Bought by New Hampshire Public Radio and New Hampshire Public Radio


  • Added: Oct 15, 2009
  • Length: 04:59
  • Purchases: 2
Educating Borrowers Away From Debt
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Piece image
We take a look at MEDA, a program providing support and financial literacy so borrowers don’t fall into lending traps.

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio and KUOW


  • Added: Oct 15, 2009
  • Length: 09:54
  • Purchases: 2
Non Profit Check Casher May Ease Predatory Lending Pinch
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Piece image
A new business is trying to clean up the image of check cashers, one customer at a time.

Bought by KUOW


  • Added: Oct 15, 2009
  • Length: 07:41
  • Purchases: 1
An Immigrant Family Torn Apart
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Piece image
The story of “Kathy”… a 9-year-old whose life was turned upside down after her parents were arrested during a workplace raid.

Bought by KUOW


  • Added: Oct 15, 2009
  • Length: 12:43
  • Purchases: 1
Immigrant Families Behind Bars
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Piece image
In a special collaboration between “Feet in Two Worlds,” we hear the story of an immigrant family torn apart after an immigration raid in Phoenix, ...

Bought by KUNM


  • Added: Oct 13, 2009
  • Length: 28:56
  • Purchases: 1
How We Survive: Predatory Mending
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Caption: Community Check Cashing in Oakland, CA, Credit: Andrew Stelzer
This week we talk to lenders who are doing things differently and to people who are helping others stave off financial scammers.

  • Added: Oct 01, 2009
  • Length: 29:00
Tapped Out: Clean Water in Peril
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Caption: Gowanus Canal, Credit: brainware3000 on flickr
From a grassroots toxic canal clean up to a long-standing watershed war, we’ll hear from U.S. water stewards across the country, working to protect...

Bought by CKMO


  • Added: Sep 23, 2009
  • Length: 28:56
  • Purchases: 1
Women in Sports: Separate & Not Equal
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Caption: Lisa Herner, Credit: Cushing Memorial Library and Archives, Texas A&M University
Dave Zirin and Elizabeth Terzakis take a look back at the history of discrimination against women in sports, and we’ll hear where the long battle f...

Bought by WJCT, RadioStPete Florida, KMXT, 90.5 WSNC, KUT and more


  • Added: Sep 04, 2009
  • Length: 28:56
  • Purchases: 6
Swimming Upstream: Can Our Rivers Be Saved?
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Caption: Aerial view of the Charley River at Yukon., Credit: Photo by USGS.
Freshwater is our most vital natural resource. Yet it’s a finite one too, although we don’t always treat it that way. So how do we protect our wate...

Bought by KVSC


  • Added: Aug 12, 2009
  • Length: 28:58
  • Purchases: 1
Breaking Through the Blue Wall of Silence
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Caption: Oakland protestors lay in the position Oscar Grant was in when he was killed, Credit: Andrew Stelzer
Who gets to decide when an officer has done something wrong—the police chief or the people? Cities across the country are creating civilian oversig...

Bought by KVSC


  • Added: Aug 05, 2009
  • Length: 28:56
  • Purchases: 1
Neither Here Nor There: Bhutanese Refugees in the U.S.
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Piece image
Thousands of Nepali speaking refugees from Bhutan are coming to North America. Correspondent Adelaide Chen takes us on a journey with these new arr...

  • Added: Jun 05, 2009
  • Length: 28:56
Growin’ Up, Comin’ Out, Speakin’ Proud
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Caption: Diego Ruiz, Credit: http://www.outloudradio.org/
Every year during the month of June, in honor of LGBTQ Pride, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queers, and those who support them, gather to ma...

Bought by KGNU Community Radio and WGBH Radio Boston


  • Added: Jun 04, 2009
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 2
Making Contact: Survivors of Solitary Confinement
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Caption: Hakeem Shaheed
Tens of thousands are in solitary confinement in American prisons which according to the United Nations is torture. Producer Claire Schoen met nine...

Bought by CKMO


  • Added: May 22, 2009
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
What Ever Happened to the Buena Vista Social Club?
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Piece image
The "Buena Vista Social Club" CD and documentary film were hits, but may have created some myths about Cuba and the musicians themselves. Independe...

Bought by KQED, KRZA, WGBH Radio Boston, and KGLT


  • Added: Apr 13, 2009
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 4
Tax Me, I’m Yours
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Piece image
It’s tax time. Yet even in these hard economic times, many folks are calling for more taxes. On this edition, we hear from people who say we need t...

  • Added: Apr 08, 2009
  • Length: 29:00
The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle Against America’s Veterans
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Caption: The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle Against America’s Veterans, Credit: Brett Stirton
As we mark the 6th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, reporter Aaron Glantz takes us inside the war as it comes home to our communities. We f...

Bought by KVNF, WXDU, KVSC, KVSC, KUER and more


  • Added: Mar 11, 2009
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 7
Women Rising 19: Masters of the Spoken Word
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Caption: Storyteller Diane Ferlatte, Credit: caverunstoryfest.org
Eve Ensler, playwright of the hit “Vagina Monologues” shares the work of her organization, V-Day, and storyteller, Diane Ferlatte, talks about usin...

Bought by KZYX, WMPG, KUT, KZMU Moab Community Radio, WSKG and more


  • Added: Mar 03, 2009
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 6
Erica Fernandez vs. BHP Billiton Petroleum
From: Making Contact
Series: Making Contact
Caption: Erica Fernandez, environmental activist who helped prevent a liquefied natural gas plant from being built near her hometown of Oxnard, Califonia., Credit: www.nbconference.org
We hear from 18-year-old Erica Fernandez. Winner of the 2007 Brower Youth Award, this fierce young woman took on the world’s largest mining compan...

  • Added: Feb 13, 2009
  • Length: 29:00

Playlists That Feature This Series: